


May 13th and the week following

by Julesin



Series: Runaways, or That Feel When Multiverse Theory is Confirmed Canon [1]
Category: Everyman HYBRID, Marble Hornets, Tribe Twelve
Genre: Also can I just say how salty I am that on here the tag for Vincent is spelled with a -y, Gen, Its Vin-NIE you heathens, Prelude parts one two and three, This is the beginning, bare with me, jk I love ya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 14:19:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12300897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Julesin/pseuds/Julesin
Summary: Someone was behind that door. That was the one thing that clicked in his pain-addled mind. Someone who could help him was behind the neatly cut wood, and he needed to get inside if he was going to survive the hole in his stomach.





	1. New Jersey

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Loneliness is Something You Come to Expect](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11630997) by [Julesin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Julesin/pseuds/Julesin). 



Darkness and quiet. That was all Jay could feel. His eyes cracked open, then shut again, keeping out the dim light that filtered in. Though it was low, his eyes refused to adjust, and his whole body was in so much pain that he couldn't register it as anything but blinding. 

There was a door in front of him, that he knew. He was in a hallway, he could see it if he cracked his eyes a tiny bit, and the dim lighting was from the shitty white lights. Some sort of hotel? Or apartment building? Where was he? He couldn't remember what had happened. How did he get here?

Someone was behind that door. That was the one thing that clicked in his pain-addled mind. Someone who could help him was behind the neatly cut wood, and he needed to get inside if he was going to survive the hole in his stomach. 

Crawling to his feet, he pulled himself through the pain, using the wall as leverage to haul himself up. His vision spun, and although his eyes were finally adjusting, he almost blacked out from vertigo. Falling across the hall, the door loomed above him, his one way to safety. He raised a fist with difficulty and pounded three times. 

There was no answer for several excruciating moments, and he leaned on the door frame, panic slowly seeping into his mind as the hallway remained quiet and empty, swirling around him. He couldn't die here. Something in his mind told him he already had, and he wasn't going to do it again, as much as that statement seemed to defy reality. 

Finally the door opened a crack, and he struggled to stand straight. "Please," he croaked out, coughing around blood in his throat. "Help."

The door shut, an unlatching sound came from inside, and it opened all the way. 

The man in front of him, oddly enough, reminded Jay of Tim, though Tim had never worn glasses, or a nose ring. This man's eyes were kinder too, softer, almost like the eyes of Jay's mother. His face was weary, however, showing evidence of little sleep. He looked confused, concerned, eyes darting up and down Jay's body, but when the angry red splash of the gunshot wound caught his attention, he instantly moved, reaching out to pull Jay in by his arm. 

The apartment was sparse, and to most it would look like he lived alone. He was very neat, whoever he was. Despite the appearance of the apartment, there was another person inside, a shorter man with pale skin and deep, tired eyes. He looked shocked, his eyes darting between Jay and the man who'd answered the door, and he looked like he was about to say something when the Tim-lookalike shook his head. 

Jay was lead into a small bathroom off to the side of a smaller hallway and seated on the floor. The man who'd pulled him in shuffled through the cabinets, pulling out bottles and gauze and a few other items before turning and sitting in front of Jay. As he pried Jay's hand away from the wound and began stripping his shirt off, he spoke for the first time. 

"Stay conscious. Can you remember who you are, Troy? Talk to me. Tell me about yourself, anything you can think of."

Jay didn't know who Troy was, but he started talking anyway, statements interspersed by wet coughs.

"My name is Jay, Jay Merrick, I'm- I'm from Alabama, I'm twenty... twenty... twenty-five? I can't remem- can't remember..."

The man's hands had stilled momentarily when he'd started talking, but now they rapidly continued cleaning the wound, and in Jay's haze he hadn't even noticed the bullet get pulled out. "Good, um, just- stay with me, I'm almost done, and then we'll get you some rest, okay?"

Jay nodded wearily. His head wasn't spinning as badly, which he attributed to the lack of blood loss he was now experiencing. He realized that the apartment smelled really nice, like lemons and that surprisingly nice hotel soap he and Tim used to use when they were on the run. There was no hint of cigarette smoke, which he found was both a breath of fresh air and a shot of loneliness into his chest. 

Where was Tim? Was he okay? Alex was still out there, he was still after them. After Jay had been shot-

Oh. 

Memories were starting to come back. Was...was he dead? No, the pain was far too real for that. Then again, how would he know? His brain reported that he had been dead, and that he wasn't anymore, but that just increased his confusion. 

His savior finished wrapping gauze around his wound and began putting things away. The other man Jay had seen appeared in the doorway, and the Tim clone now addressed him. "Evan, could you put him to bed?"

The brunette hesitantly nodded, then reached a hand down. Jay carefully took it, wincing and groaning in pain as he was pulled to his feet. He was lead further down the small hallway, into an equally small bedroom with a soft bed he fell face first onto. It may not have been soft at all, but with how exhausted he was, he could've cared less. 

His head hit the pillows, and he dimly recognized blankets being put over him before he was lost to sleep. 

: ~ :

"He said his name was Jay, Vinnie. Jay Merrick."

"Maybe he's confused. That gunshot wound was pretty bad."

"You know exactly what that was from. We saw it happen, there's no way this isn't him."

"But, how's that even possible? He doesn't exist, Ev."

"I don't know, Vinnie. But out of all the shit we've dealt with, what's one more weird event?"

Jay groaned quietly, a dull, throbbing pain pounding through his head. His abdomen didn't hurt quite as bad, though it did feel like someone was shoving a pick-axe through him over and over again. Still, it had been worse. 

Slowly, he sat up, his head complaining as he forced himself into an upright position. The voices he'd heard had come from the doorway, though he didn't hear them now and there was no one standing there, so perhaps he'd just imagined them. Or they'd happened earlier, and he was only just now remembering and recognizing them as voices. Brains were weird like that sometimes. 

He carefully swung his legs over the side of the bed, his muscles screaming at him as he stood. Clinging to the wall, he made his way slowly into the hallway, realizing that he must have calculated way off the night before because it now seemed miles long. 

He hadn't made it even half way before someone appeared at the other end. It was the brunette from the night before, the one who'd been called 'Evan'. He hurried over and took Jay's arm, helping him the rest of the way. "Why didn't you call us or something," he muttered worriedly. "You're still in really bad shape."

Jay grumbled unintelligibly, but allowed himself to lean on Evan when his leg almost gave out from sheer exhaustion. 

He was deposited at a small table in the kitchen area, right next to the island. Evan vanished off into another room, but reappeared quickly with the other man, the one who'd patched Jay up, and who Jay had a feeling was the 'Vinnie' he'd heard earlier. 

His suspicions were confirmed when they both sat, and the man introduced himself quietly as 'Vincent.' "It's good to see you out of bed," the raven began, and Jay relaxed, his dulcet tones calming just to listen to. "We were a bit worried, it's been a few hours."

Jay nodded, not quite trusting his voice yet to come out as anything but a cough. 

"You said your name was...Jay? Jay Merrick?"

He nodded again, clearing his throat.

"That's...a pretty nasty bullet wound. How did... How did that happen?"

He swallowed, his throat feeling blocked again but for a different reason. "It's a long story," he finally croaked. "One I'd rather not go into."

The other person at the table huffed, his brow furrowing. "Vince, why don't we just-"

"No, Evan. Let him talk."

He folded his arms and sat back. 

Jay's mind went back to the conversation he'd overheard. He still wasn't sure if that had been real, but he was sure as hell gonna find out. "Do you two know who I am?"

Vincent looked like he'd been caught red-handed, guilt in his eyes as he looked down at his hands. Evan just nodded, his face solemn. 

"Yep," he intoned, leaning on his hand. "We watched Marble Hornets. It's the main reason we're here."

"What do you mean?"

"That Youtube channel you made," Vincent cut in. "It's called Marble Hornets, right?"

"Um...yeah?"

He sighed. "Look, I'm sure this is gonna sound crazy, but I think...I think you're from a different universe. You've been stalked by a monster, a tall, faceless man in a suit? You call him the Operator?"

Jay nodded, feeling more and more uncomfortable every minute. Another universe? Is that what Alex had meant? Memories were coming back of his time as a shade, a ghost, whatever it was, and Alex's predictions were at the forefront of his mind. 

"In this world, your Youtube channel is fake. It's like a tv show. None of it actually happened. You, and everyone else you interacted with during that period--all the people seen on camera. They were all characters, played by actors."

Jay's head was spinning again. That's what they'd meant by him not existing. In this world, he really didn't. He wasn't real. None of them were. Not Tim, not Alex, not Jessica. He felt his view of the world crumbling. "But- but I remember it all! How is that possible?"

"Just because it's not real here doesn't mean it didn't happen to you," Evan reassured him. "Like Vinnie said, we think you're from a different universe, one where we don't necessarily exist, but everything you went through did actually happen."

Jay nodded, closing his eyes and trying to wrap his head around the idea. He was real, he existed. Just not here. Except...now he did. 

"But, how did I get here?" he wondered quietly, rubbing his temples. 

Evan shrugged. "I dunno."

"And why..." Jay looked down at his abdomen, at the gauze still wrapped around his wound. He was suddenly very aware of the fact that he was only wearing his binder, and wrapped his arms around himself. They'd obviously seen...why hadn't they said anything? "I was shot years ago. Why has the wound come back?"

Vincent looked uneasy. "I meant to ask about that, actually. You were killed at the end of Marble Hornets. So how are you alive and breathing now? Here?"

Jay couldn't answer. 

"It might be _because_ you're here, actually," Evan began. "I think your physical state from right before you died must have been captured in some sort of stasis, and when you came here, it was the only thing available for your mind to use as a physical vessel." Jay and Vincent both stared at him for a moment, and he shrugged. "Or something, I dunno."

Jay rubbed his eyes. His head hurt, both as a continuation of the pain from before and from thinking about this whole situation. He needed more sleep, but he couldn't do that. There were important things, more pressing matters to deal with. 

"Do you know if anyone else came with you?" Vincent inquired. "Like Tim, or Alex?"

"I- I think so."

"Do you know where they are?"

"I know where to look first."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome, one and all, to my massive Slenderverse/Marble Hornets project.  
> This will be fun, this will be painful, this will be cute, this will be smutty.  
> I hope you enjoy.  
> Prelude, part one.


	2. Florida

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Do you know how to hitchhike?"
> 
> "I'm sure it's not that hard."
> 
> "Do you have any money?"
> 
> "Well...no."
> 
> "Do you even know what state you're in?"
> 
> "...No."
> 
> "You need a ride. I have a car."
> 
> "...What state are we in?"
> 
> "Florida. Not the point."

God, Alex's throat hurt. 

It wasn't a sore throat. It wasn't sickness. It just hurt, ached something bad. Why, he had no clue, but he wasn't gonna stand for it. Not this bullshit. 

He pushed himself into a sitting position, rubbing his eyes, and yawned, but halfway through it turned into a hacking cough that lasted several moments. Maybe he was worse off than he thought. Just more reason to go wake Amy and Jessica, even if it was just to whine at them. 

Except...this wasn't their house. He wasn't staying over at his girlfriend's place, he didn't recognize this bedroom. Even if this was her house, he couldn't wake her anyways because...

She was dead. 

And the pain around his throat was from the stab wounds that had killed him. 

A hand flew to his neck, feeling around the cracked skin. Without even looking in a mirror, he could tell the scars were ugly, and barely starting to heal. His nails scraped scabs, and some came away in his hands. He could feel something warm and wet start to trail down his collarbone. 

Best not to fiddle with that. 

He climbed out of bed, using the wall to keep himself upright as his head suddenly pounded and spun, threatening to make him pass out. There were picture frames hanging on the walls, people he didn't recognize, but they looked happy. Two men, about twenty, grinning and laughing as they hung out on a beach. One of them, the darker brunette, wearing a graduation cap and gown. The two of them again, sitting on a boardwalk with the sun behind them, looking contented as they played on what appeared to be Nintendos. 

Then a small photo on a dresser of the lighter brunette, the one with the scar, with the words _Milo Asher, 1988-2010_ scrawled in the bottom corner. 

Alex stumbled out into the hallway. At least he knew a name, even if he didn't know who this house actually belonged to. There were a few more pictures along the way, but nothing of note. The house seemed rather dusty, like it hadn't been cleaned in weeks, so maybe it was empty. Maybe it wasn't owned. 

Nope. He peeked into a side room, what looked to be some sort of work space given the computer set up, and there was a plate of unfinished food sitting on the desk. Someone was around, or at least had been recently. 

A weak cough caught his attention, and he carefully made his way to the end of the hall, where he could peer out into a small living room with a couple of couches. There, lying limply on one of them, was Brian. 

Alex hurried over to sit next to the other man, who looked like he'd just woken up. Brian groaned, rubbing his face, and he looked exhausted. His limbs seemed weak, like he could barely move, and he whined in pain as he sat up. 

"Hey," Alex murmured when he tried to stand, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Brian, chill. You're okay. Don't move too much."

"Alex...?"

"Yep. Now sit, you're in a lot of pain."

Brian groaned again, still trying to sit up and look around. "Such pain. All the hurt. Ow."

"Yes, I know. You fell out of a window and broke every goddamn bone in your body, now- Sit. Down."

Brian sighed wearily, letting his body sink into the couches. "Where are we?"

"No clue. Some house. Somewhere. Probably in the US." Brian hummed quietly. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, like you said, I fell out of a window and broke every goddamn bone in my body, so you know. I'm feeling right peachy."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Seriously."

"Okay, it's not that bad. I mean that did happen...several years ago, right?" Alex nodded. "I actually feel like I've got massive sprains in my, well, everything. Other than that, as I said, I'm peachy."

"How much do you remember?"

Brian screwed up his face in thought. "Um...We were like, ghosts? Or something? We were dead, but I remember being conscious after that. Tim was there, he was still alive, right?"

"Yeah."

"Tim killed you. He didn't kill me."

"Yes, I know, you were very adamant about that."

"Still am. Wasn't his fault."

Alex sighed fondly. "You don't have to tell me. I don't blame him for-" Movement in the doorway caught his eye. He sat up, catching the edge of someone just disappearing from view. "Hey...hey!" Alex stood up. 

"What?" Brian's eyes were wide as he watched Alex cross the room. 

"I'll be right back, I think I found our host."

Alex hurried out into the foyer, bright sunshine filtering in through the windows. It was nice, and for once he felt he could actually enjoy it, but there were more pressing matters at hand. The person he'd seen had vanished, but he heard the floor creak off to his right, and headed towards it. 

"Look, man," he called out. "We don't know where we are. This is gonna sound weird, but we literally just woke up here."

There was silence for a moment, then the response came in a voice that was sure of itself, yet gruff and strained, like it wasn't used to being used. "That doesn't sound as weird to me as you think it does."

Alex glanced around, trying to figure out where the voice had come from. "Maybe you can help us, then."

He heard a sigh, and then someone stepped out from behind a doorway. 

It was the same man he'd seen in the photographs, the one with the darker hair and the handsome face. His hair was shorter now, cut to his ears, and his eyes were deeper, with dark purple bruises under them. The eyes themselves were haunted, and his face was gaunt and pale, like he hadn't been eating properly for a long time. 

"I wouldn't bet on it. You've got more experience than I'll ever have."

Alex blinked. "I- I don't know what you mean."

The man sighed again, rubbing his stubbled chin a little anxiously. "I get the feeling you're not... What's your name?"

"Alex. Kralie- Alex Kralie."

He nodded, eyes off to the side, distracted. "Yeah... Yeah, I figured." He shook his head as if discouraging flies, then stuck out his hand. "Noah Maxwell."

Alex shook it hesitantly. He wasn't quite sure about this guy--he seemed awfully twitchy, and kept looking out the window like he expected someone to be there. Alex understood that, that was just paranoia, but his hand was shaking, and his eyes were so disquieting...

People probably said the same about him when he was first dealing with the Operator, though, so he tried not to judge too harshly. 

Noah shoved his hands in his pockets anxiously. "So, uh, how'd you get here? I sure as hell didn't let you in, cuz I woke up in the basement like, five minutes ago."

Alex shrugged. "Same way you did, maybe?"

Noah instantly shook his head. "Nah. That ain't possible. I know who you are, and the Collective wouldn't have shown an interest in you, given-" He cut himself off, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "Anyway. Nah."

"You...know who I am?"

Noah sighed irately. "Yeah, you're Alex Kralie, the college kid who wanted to make a student film but got stalked by an inter-dimensional eldritch being that eventually drove him nuts enough to kill all his friends, I know you. You killed my favorite character."

There was nothing that could justifiably be called an appropriate response to that, so Alex just gaped.

"You should probably check on your friend, make sure he isn't dying or somethin'."

Alex turned immediately, heading back towards the living room. Whatever ridiculousness Noah had just dumped on him could wait, he shouldn't have left Brian alone. 

Incidentally, Brian was fine, as fine as he could be with how much pain he was probably still in. Alex sat heavily next to him as Noah entered the room, looking around every corner for whatever was following him. He didn't join them on the couch, but instead stood right in the center of the room, awkwardly shifting from one foot to the other. 

"Brian?" he asked. "Brian Thomas?"

Brian blinked, looked at Alex, then back. "Um, yes?"

Noah appeared unsure for a moment. "But-" His eyes flicked to Alex, then back to Brian. "Okay, wait. I wasn't gonna bring it up, but... You two aren't supposed to be alive. You were both dead by the end of Marble Hornets, Tim killed you both."

"Tim didn't kill me!" Brian exclaimed, instantly up in arms. "I jumped out of that window. Whatever was in control of my mind made me take that fall on purpose, I wanted to die. It wasn't his fault!"

Noah looked taken aback, and blinked several times before clearing his throat. "Oh- okay man, whatever you say. But he like...stabbed you...in the throat..." He was looking at the wounds Alex had, and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Want me to like, get something for that?"

Alex snorted. "I dunno, is it normal to constantly taste blood?"

"Um, no."

"Then, yes."

Noah nodded and vanished again, though he was a bit louder this time as he stomped through the house. Brian leaned back, suddenly exhausted. 

"How does he know?"

"I'm not sure," Alex murmured back. "But remember how I said that something big was going to happen, that we would go somewhere where someone would need our help and we would need theirs? I think this is it."

Brian rolled his eyes. "Great. That really gives me the confidence to override the whole 'I don't know where this information is coming from, I just know it' thing." He exhaled slowly through his nose, eyes drifting shut. "Just great."

"Hey, stay with me. I don't need you dying on me now."

Brian batted at his face with a loose hand. "Chill yourself, I'm just tired. I ain't dying. Tim'd kill me if I did that again."

Alex huffed as Noah re-entered, arms full of different medical supplies. 

"I just grabbed whatever I thought would be useful. Sorry it's, uh, not much. I haven't been out of the house a whole lot recently. Not voluntarily anyway." He started rolling out strips of gauze, but at Alex's curious look, he elaborated. "So that guy who was stalking you guys, the Operator or whatever, he exists here. Have I mentioned this is probably a different universe? Yeah, y'all don't exist. Anyway, I call him the Administrator, which is kind of the same thing, but whatever. He's got this group of weirdos and assholes that call themselves the Collective or something, and they hate my guts. I think. Or maybe they love me, it's hard to tell sometimes. They like to fuck with me and randomly teleport me to this place nearby I call the Boardwalk, it's like this little nature trail or whatever, and apparently it's a good place for them to open doors to their hell dimension or whatever cuz they're always doing that thing I just said. That's the only place they take me, though, so it's the only other place I've been besides my house for, like, months- oh, sorry."

Noah had been wrapping gauze and bandages over Alex's throat as he rambled, and had accidentally scratched Alex with a nail. The man hadn't really noticed, mostly because he was trying really hard to follow Noah's babbling and pretty much failing. It was so much information all at once, and Noah had talked so quickly that he'd only understood about half of it. What he had, however, he needed to ask about. 

"What do you mean we don't exist?"

"Y'ain't real, buddy. You're a fictional character in a web-series called Marble Hornets that was based off an old internet legend that turned out to be real. Unfortunately. For some people. Like me." 

Alex pushed him away as gently as he could, sure that however much gauze was on his throat now was enough. "And you think this is a separate universe?"

"Uh-huh." Noah taped the fabric down, then pulled out a bottle of pain killers, popping the cap and offering it to him. Alex grabbed a couple, taking them dry. 

"Okay... Okay. I guess that sort of makes sense?"

Brian took the pills offered to him as well. "But how'd we get here?"

Noah gave him an incredulous look. "Why the hell're you asking me?"

He got a shrug. Alex folded his arms and leaned back. "You seem very calm about this."

"Yeah, well, I've dealt with some wild shit the past few years. I figure some inter-dimensional travel isn't that weird, all things considered."

"This Collective. What do they want? Could they have brought us here?"

Noah shook his head. "I very much doubt it. They mostly do the tall asshole's bidding, and I really don't see why he'd want even more people, who know how to defy him, in a world already saturated with those. Kinds of people." He started putting medical supplies away, having done all he could to make them stop actively dying. "Do you know if any of the other Marble Hornets characters are here? Jay, Tim? Jay was always my favorite."

Brian looked to Alex, who nodded. "Yes. They're here. I don't know where, but they're here."

"Do you have any ideas?"

"Alabama." He got a very wary glance from Brian. "Look, not only is it where everything started, but if I were them, that's where I would go first. It's the most likely place. But...we don't have a car."

"I'll drive ya."

It was Alex's turn to look incredulously at Noah. "You don't have to. I'm sure we'll be fine, we can just, like...hitchhike or something. Or take a bus."

"Do you know how to hitchhike?"

"I'm sure it's not that hard."

"Do you have any money?"

"Well...no."

"Do you even know what state you're in?"

"...No."

Noah spread his hands as if to say _Exactly._ "You need a ride. I have a car."

"...What state are we in?"

"Florida. Not the point."

Alex groaned aloud. "God, fine!" He glared at Brian, who was giving him a very _You have some issues_ kind of look. 

Noah stood, brushing off his jeans. "I want to get out of here anyways. As much as I love my house," this was said with as much sarcasm as a human being was physically possible of using, "I really would rather be anywhere but here. Even though I literally just showed up. Like ten minutes ago. Not the point, Noah."

Alex and Brian shared a look as their new mode of transportation headed out of the room with the medical supplies.

This would be an interesting road trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prelude part two of three  
> One more to go and then we can get on to the actual main fics!!! Woohoo!!


	3. May 20th, Alabama

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had been a weird week.

Jessica brushed dirt off her shoes in front of the hotel room she and Tim had been sharing. Another patron of the hotel passed, and they gave each other nods that communicated _I don't know what situation you're in, but I acknowledge you as a human being._ Jessica always liked those nods. 

She used her key and cracked the door open. Tim glanced up quickly as she entered, old habits making him understandably paranoid, but quickly looked back down at his phone and the Youtube video he was watching. The shades were open, letting sunlight stream in, but it didn't do much to cool down the room, given that neither of them had felt comfortable with the windows open, so Jessica set the grocery bags down and began turning on the air conditioning. 

It had been a weird week. 

They'd both woken up here, in Rosswood park. That park that had caused so much trouble for them. So many sleepless nights. They'd almost immediately found each other, and Jessica had had to calm Tim down from a near panic attack. They'd quickly realized that there was something wrong when Tim tried to call his doctor, a number he had in his contacts, and had gotten someone else. 

A quick trip to a coffee shop and a google search done on a hunch had produced some worrying results. Tim Sutton definitely looked a hell of a lot like Tim Wright, and according to the Marble Hornets wiki page, he was the man who had played Tim during the shooting of the series. There was nothing much on Jessica's actress, but she was out there somewhere. 

Of course, that alone gave them some very interesting existential crises. 

The eventual explanation they'd come up with was that, most likely, they were in another dimension. Jessica had always liked books where characters went to other dimensions and met alternate versions of themselves, and this seemed like a pretty good match for that kind of plot line. It was very different when it was reality, however, and they'd quickly decided to sleep on it, given that it was near nighttime. 

One night in a hotel turned into two, and then three, and before they knew it it had been an entire week, with no clues as to what they were supposed to be doing here. 

Tim had told her about Damien, the odd person he'd met just a few days before they'd been transported here, that had helped him communicate with the dead members of their party again. She'd always kind of had a feeling that Tim's hallucinations of them hadn't truly been hallucinations after all, but this was the first real proof of that. It also proved that ghosts were real, which was kind of neat, but not their current problem. 

At the moment, their problem was how goddamn stuffy the hotel room was. The A/C kicked on, and Jessica sat in front of it, grateful for the reprieve from the stifling Alabama summer heat. That was one thing she had not missed about this place in the years she'd been away: the weather. 

Her thoughts turned back to Amelia. They'd been dating for about a year, and things were starting to get serious. She wondered if Amelia was okay. If she was looking for Jessica. If she'd gone to the police. Tried calling Jessica's cell phone with no response. It was a dull pain in Jessica's chest, knowing her girlfriend was probably worried sick about her. Not much she could do about it, though. 

"This is so surreal," Tim muttered for maybe the fiftieth time since they'd arrived. He'd insisted on going through everything he could find about Marble Hornets on the internet, all the creators's blogs, all the parody videos, the entire wiki. He'd even found some clues that there were other Youtube channels like Marble Hornets, but those ones seemed to be real here. The biggest ones were Everymanhybrid and Tribe Twelve, and he could find nothing on the internet that proved they were fake. 

"Take a break, Tim. It won't do you any good to keep going over it."

"But it's so-"

"Tim." She gestured to the air conditioning unit, then patted the ground next to her. After a moment, he sighed, set the phone down, and joined her in the cool. After a minute or two of just sitting, a though occurred to her, and she stood up. At Tim's confused look, she explained, "I forgot something, I'll be back in a bit," and headed for the door. He shrugged, and closed his eyes again. 

She headed back out towards the nearby grocery store, where they'd been getting food for the past few days. It was still hot, just as hot as it had been when she first went shopping, and she pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes to protect them. People passed, invested in their own lives. So far no one had recognized either of them, and she was grateful for that. Though part of it might have been her shorter hair. 

Entering the parking lot, she pulled out her wallet, looking in it to see how much cash she actually had left. They were slowly running out, given that neither of them had jobs now. Tim had actually been looking for one for the past couple of days, but he'd had no luck so far. 

Someone...called her name. 

She slowly turned, wary, but her eyes went wide as someone barreled into her, someone lanky and familiar, someone with glasses that poked into the side of her face as he hugged her. 

Alex stepped back after a moment, looking in her eyes for any sign of recognition. She shook her head slightly after a moment before smiling. 

"Hey, Kralie. Long time, no see."

He grinned bigger as two more people walked up behind him. Jessica looked over his shoulder and gave Brian a smile before lifting an eyebrow at their unfamiliar companion. He waved uncomfortably, and she figured introductions could be done later. 

"Do you know where Jay or Tim is?" Alex asked hurriedly, concern seeping out in his voice. 

"Jay, no, but Tim and I have been sharing a hotel room for the past week. I'm sure he'll be happy to see both of you."

Brian grinned wide, relief in his eyes, but she noticed he was leaning on their dark-haired companion for support. She must have looked worried, as he waved his hand, unconcerned. "I'm fine."

"I hate to break this wonderful reunion, but..." She looked Alex up and down. "Aren't you dead?"

He blinked, then shrugged. "Probably."

"Probably."

"Look, there are more important things to worry about."

"More important than figuring out how you guys got resurrected from the dead?" she queried sarcastically. 

"And then transported into an alternate dimension?" he countered. 

She dipped her head, conceding. "Good point."

They told her briefly what they'd been doing, about their long road trip from Florida to Alabama, as she led them back to the hotel, once again completely forgetting what she was going to get. Noah, who they introduced pretty quickly (he was the creator of Tribe Twelve, what a surprise), was quiet for most of the walk, but she had a feeling he was someone who never stopped once they started, you just had to get him out of his shell. 

Tim was lying on one of the beds, enjoying the cool air of the hotel room, when they walked in, and he quickly sat up, confused, when his brain registered more than one set of footsteps. His eyes widened, and he sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the mattress and standing so he could scurry over to engulf Brian in a hug. The recipient of the hug just laughed, returning it. 

Tim pulled back, then looked at Alex, his expression unreadable. They looked at each other for a few moments, then Tim hugged him as well, and though Alex looked surprised, Jessica could tell he was pretty happy. 

They sat and talked for a while, Noah reiterating everything he'd told Alex and Brian. Jessica and Tim told them what they'd discovered, and information was quickly passed through the party until everyone knew everything that everyone else knew. Probably. 

Now they just had to wait for Jay. 

They'd wait for another week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're finally done with the prelude  
> This is a huge endeavor  
> I've tried to do things like this in the past, and never actually posted them--perhaps doing so will motivate me to write more  
> Don't worry, more characters in-coming.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome, one and all, to my massive Slenderverse/Marble Hornets project.  
> This will be fun, this will be painful, this will be cute, this will be smutty.  
> I hope you enjoy.  
> Prelude, part one.


End file.
